09-MAY-2012
Commuter, Havana, Cuba, 2012
I caught this commuter peering from the window of a bus as it stopped nearby. The reflected light gives both the glass and the man a warm glow, expressing the attitude of the Cuban people we encountered during our stay in Havana. Like many of his fellow commuters, he wears a tank top shirt to cope with the intense heat and humidity. Havana’s buses are not air conditioned – and they often are overcrowded.
10-MAY-2012
Tobacco curing, Havana, Cuba, 2012
Cuba’s cigar production in Cuba is controlled by the government. Despite American trade sanctions against all Cuban products, Cuba exports millions of cigars all over the world. They are considered to be among the world’s finest cigars. At a farm outside Havana, I photographed these tobacco leaves curing in a barn. The light coming from an open door just a short distance away illuminates the leaves hanging in front. By spot metering on the leaves in the front, I make the rest of the tobacco fade into the softly focused dark background.
10-MAY-2012
Portrait of a Tobacco worker, Havana, Cuba, 2012
The abundant detail on this man’s face defines his character and his occupation as an agricultural worker. I fill the balance of the image with the product he creates and nourishes. Cuban cigars are considered among the finest in the world, and there is a sense of great pride running through this image as well. I was one of a number of photographers making portraits of this man at this moment. Holding a bundle of tobacco, he was patiently posing for others off to my right. I preferred to work on this side view perspective rather than the more typical frontal portrait pose. He thereby seems to ignore me altogether – I become an observer here, rather than his confronter.
10-MAY-2012
Portrait of a Tobacco farmer, Havana, Cuba, 2012
I not only made a portrait of a tobacco worker (see
http://www.pbase.com/pnd1/image/143582446) while in Cuba. I also made this portrait of his boss, the man who manages the entire farm. He presents more confrontational body language, and I add considerable environment. I did not direct this body language – he seemed very confident in front of a camera, and expressed himself accordingly. (We were later invited into the farmhouse for coffee, and I noticed numerous publications on display from around the world featuring portraits of this man.) He stands here with considerable authority. He not only oversees a large tobacco operation – his farm produces a variety of other agricultural products, including the coffee he gave us. He does not smile in my image – he simply is who he is, a man in charge.
10-MAY-2012
Torcedora, Vinales, Cuba, 2012
Vinales is several hours out of Havana, in the Pinar del Rio Provence of Cuba. It is home to many tobacco farms. We stopped at one of them to meet a man who rolls hand made cigars. Such people are known as Torcedoras. Many photographers crowded around him, making pictures of the cigar rolling process itself. I preferred to express the character and personality of the Torcedora by making this portrait of him as he showed off his handiwork. He held up the finished cigar for me while still savoring the smoke of another. Wisps of smoke float across his lips and nose. He is utterly self-confident, and not afraid to let us know it.
10-MAY-2012
Memorial, Vinales, Cuba, 2012
Vinales moves at a slow pace. Horse drawn wagons are still used by trades people and farmers to get around. An Art Deco sculpture, most likely memorializing a long forgotten death of a mother or her child, stands on a median strip near the village’s main avenue. The greens, blues and yellow in this image characterize the nature of rural Cuba.
10-MAY-2012
Stormy weather ahead? Vinales, Cuba, 2012
This sun-splashed tranquil scene reaches back into time – both the small home and 1956 Chevrolet parked before it date back to the middle of the last century. It seems as if nothing has changed here since then. Yet change may well be in the offing. This tranquility seems threatened by the huge rain cloud that surges toward us. I see the image as a metaphor for what may be in store for Cuba itself if and when its people should eventually decide to follow the example of its former partner, the Soviet Union, in overthrowing Communist rule.
10-MAY-2012
Study in green, Vinales, Cuba, 2012
The late afternoon sun warms the green wall, chair, and plants on the porch of this small home, while also casting shadows that express the intensity of a photographer at work. The photographer is well out of the frame here, yet his shadowed profile suggests deep concentration. Meanwhile, the shadow of his camera and its dangling strap magically appears on the back of the chair just behind that profile. Nature plays its role on the opposite sides of the frame – tropical plants enter from the left, and the shadow of a tree enters the frame at right. The image also asks questions and demands answers from the viewer. What is this photographer photographing, and what may he be thinking about at the moment? Is it the play of shadows on the wall or floor? Is he photographing the relationship of the green wall and the yellow shutters? Are the chairs or plants his subject? We must wait to see his picture for such answers.
10-MAY-2012
Taxi, Vinales, Cuba, 2012
This simple photograph could answer a simple question: what is a Cuban taxi? First we need an automobile, and in Cuba’s case most of them are old American cars. Then we need a magnetic sign that is wired to the electrical system. And finally, a small Cuban flag pennant – the more worn, the better. I include all three subjects here – barely suggesting the curving roof of the old blue car, adding the sign and wire, and finally catching the frayed end of the Cuban flag pennant as it flutters in the wind. The image is made up of the three primary colors – blue, yellow, and red – all of which blend seamlessly into a harmonious whole.
11-MAY-2012
History lesson, Elementary school, Havana, Cuba, 2012
I juxtapose differing responses to a teacher’s question in a history class here. The topic was the Cuban revolution, and a portrait of Che Guevara, a key figure in that event, seems to be listening to the answer. All of the children in this school wear uniforms. The older children wear red bandanas around their necks, while the younger children wear blue bandanas. All wear white shirts, echoing the same combination of colors appearing in the Cuban flag.
11-MAY-2012
Easy reading, Elementary school, Havana, Cuba, 2012
It was hard to make natural looking images of the children at this school. They were conditioned to posing for visiting photographers, and most of them were either mugging for the camera or waving at it. Yet this young man was an exception – he was so absorbed by the comic book he was reading in class that he never noticed me making his picture. (I recall enjoying comic books at this age as well, but I would have been severely chastised had I ever been caught doing so at school. Times have changed.)
11-MAY-2012
The joy of teaching, Elementary school, Havana, Cuba, 2012
This teacher knew I was making her picture, and her class was enjoying her self-consciousness. She found the situation very amusing, and I was able to make an image rich in human values. The photograph expresses great pleasure, along with a wonderful sense of humor. The blurred hand helps extend the moment in time, and the softly focused map of the world behind her establishes her identity as teacher.